


The Boy with the Hibiscus Soul Mark

by GeckoGirl89



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Episode: s01e07 Ho'apono (Accept), First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, POV Danny "Danno" Williams, Past Danny/Rachel Mentioned, Pining, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 23:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11115306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeckoGirl89/pseuds/GeckoGirl89
Summary: When he's a child, Danny frowns every time he looked at the soul mark on his arm. It's some kind of fancy pink flower, painted onto his skin with precise detailing, that Danny doesn't recognize.It would actually make a very nice tattoo. For agirl.





	The Boy with the Hibiscus Soul Mark

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the comment-fic prompt "Hawaii Five-0, Danny Williams/Steve McGarrett, why did his soulmark have to look like a fancy _flower?_ ":http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/811421.html?thread=103215773#t103215773
> 
> This fic is set during 1.07, because I pictured Danny seeing Steve's soulmate mark during that scene where Steve takes his shirt off before getting on the boat. The title of this fic is a play on the title from _The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo_.

When he's a child, Danny frowns every time he looks at the soul mark on his arm. It's some kind of fancy pink flower, painted onto his skin with precise detailing, that Danny doesn't recognize.

It would actually make a very nice tattoo. For a _girl_.

Danny has more than his fair share of problems with bullies being the shortest boy in his class. Having a feminine soul mark only makes his life more difficult, but Danny stops the teasing with retaliatory remarks, and one day, when that doesn't work, his fists.

His mom applies a bag of ice to his knuckles after school that day, gently chiding him for resorting to violence. After her brief lecture, she makes sure to reassure him about his soul mark.

"There's nothing wrong with your mark, Daniel. It just means that your soul mate has a connection to that flower. Maybe she's a botanist."

By the time Danny figures out that he wouldn't mind if his soul mate isn't a girl, he's also learned to hide his soul mark better, the way most teenagers and adults do. Danny takes to wearing longer-sleeved shirts, which is easy since he's in New Jersey. Years ago, he learned that the flower on his arm is a hibiscus, and the idea of it makes him roll his eyes. Whoever his soul mate is, he's not going on a vacation to some tropical paradise to meet them.

Later, he meets Rachel, and they get married, even though his hibiscus soul mark has nothing to do with her, and her soul mark, of the Las Vegas skyline, has absolutely no connection to him either. They're young, they're stupid, and they're in love. Rachel thinks the whole "soul mate" thing isn't that important, and Danny ignores the voice in the back of his head telling him that this will all end some day.

It all actually does end when Rachel finds her fucking soul mate after she and Danny have already had a daughter together. They had been having problems anyway, but meeting Stan pushed her to leave Danny. Stan wants to move to Hawaii for his hotel business, so Danny has to move too, since Rachel has primary custody of Grace.

For the first few months, he doesn't think about his soul mark at all. He's too busy trying to adjust to life as a single father and cop in a place where he doesn't fit in, where his long sleeves and ties mark him as a "haole," a total fish out of water. He hates Hawaii at first. He hates the tropical weather and coconut trees, the pineapple people put on everything, the fact that his dog died in boarding when Danny was trying to move here, and that he had to leave his friends and family behind.

Danny thinks he should hate Steve too, when he first meets the man. On their first day together, Steve just takes over Danny's life, making him his partner and getting him shot in the arm thanks to his reckless attitude. It bothers Danny how Steve just throws away the rule book sometimes, forgetting that he's a cop now and that this isn't fucking Guantanamo Bay. Danny wishes Steve wouldn't drive so fast, and it annoys him that Steve does it with _his car_.

Even though Steve can drive him up the wall sometimes, Danny can't actually bring himself to hate his partner, and he doesn't fully understand why. Despite his aforementioned faults, Danny can't help feeling fond of the guy. It might be because of the fact that Steve was one of the only people in Hawaii to reach out and try to befriend Danny, even if he did it in an unconventionally pushy way. After that first day, they get along pretty well, unless Steve is doing something insane. It's not like Danny is blind, so he's noticed how attractive Steve is. Danny's heart does this weird fluttery thing every time Steve smiles at him that it has never done for everyone else, not even Rachel, and it's messing with Danny's head more than a little. But, ultimately, Danny knows that it would be a bad idea to say anything that might jeopardize their partnership, so he tries to ignore the bizarre feelings Steve induced in him and the voice in the back of his head frequently telling him to just go ahead and kiss his partner.

One day, Steve decides to take his shirt off, because apparently he has to find new, inventive ways of torturing Danny. Danny tries not to stare too long, laughing with more than a hint of hysteria and making a sarcastic comment to conceal how flustered he is. He's being obvious as hell, but at least he manages to avoid openly drooling at the sight of Steve's sculpted abs. There's only so much humiliation that Danny can take.

Steve turns to walk away, and now that Steve isn't looking, Danny quickly sweeps his eyes over Steve's form. His eyes widen when he sees the image of a red Mustang convertible on Steve's hip, and he rushes around the car towards him.

"Wait, Steve! Stop!"

Steve stops and turns his head to face Danny with a confused expression. "What is it?"

Danny can barely manage to speak, because now that he's closer to Steve, he can recognize the license plate on the car. He gulps, pointing towards Steve's hip. "That thing on your hip, that's not a tattoo, is it?"

Steve glances down towards his hip and shifts his body uncomfortably. When he looks up at Danny, his expression is pinched into a wary frown. "That's my soul mark, Danno."

Danny grins. "Babe, that was the car I had in high school."

Steve's eyes fill with surprise, and then he lets out a startled laugh. "You know, I always wonder why that thing had a New Jersey license plate."

He steps in closer to Danny so that they're breathing the same air. "It all makes sense now. I knew the first time I saw you that you were going to be important to me, but I had no idea you were going to be my soul mate."

Steve is looking at him with this tender, affectionate expression he's seen a few times before, and suddenly it makes a lot of sense to Danny too. He almost kisses Steve, but then he remembers his own soul mark and feels like kicking himself for his own stupidity.

Pink, girly flowers don't seem like Steve McGarrett, even if those flowers happen to be Hawaiian. And Danny doesn't even have that car anymore. It's been passed on to his nephew Eric.

He had known he liked Steve before today, but it had been too early for Danny to start thinking about soul mate stuff with him. But now that the possibility has been dangled in front of his face only to be cruelly snatched away, Danny feels devastated. And God, the idea that Steve is going to wind up with someone in his _family_ instead of him makes Danny feel like he's going to cry.

Steve's hand settles gently on his shoulder, and that only makes him feel worse. Danny knows he never had the best luck in life, but this is so, so unfair.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Danny shakes his head and steps away a little. "I think maybe I'm not your soul mate, Steve." He unbuttons the bottom of his shirt sleeve and rolls it up to show Steve the inside of his forearm. "Because I'm pretty sure my mark has nothing to do with you at all."

Steve's gaze settles on Danny's arm, and he steps towards him again, stroking over the mark with the lightest touch known to man, which leaves goosebumps on Danny's arm despite the warm weather.

"My aunt Deb painted this for me after my mom died and my dad sent me to military school on the mainland," Steve whispers. His voice is soft and filled with wonder. He looks up into Danny's eyes, and his gaze is smoldering. "It's hanging up in my bedroom right now. I could show it to you later, if you want."

Danny definitely _wants_. He leans up, looping his arms around his partner's neck, to kiss Steve and show him exactly what he wants.

He pulls away several seconds later to breathe and chuckles when Steve gives him an Eskimo kiss. His soul mate is so sappy, and Danny wouldn't have it any other way.

"I'll take you up on that later. But for now, I believe you have a crazy SEAL to deal with."

Steve's giddy expression turns more serious at the reminder of work. He gives Danny a nod and starts to walk away. "I'll see you later, Danno."

He strides off towards the boat, and Danny can't resist tossing off one last remark before Steve goes. "Try to be careful, won't you?!" He shakes his head at himself. Now that he knows they're soulmates, this routine of Danny sounding like Steve's nagging wife makes a lot more sense.

Steve graces him with a blinding grin. "I will, now that I have you to come home to!"

Danny would normally feel at least a little embarrassed about the fact that Steve just loudly announced their relationship to everyone, but instead he's feeling all mushy and flattered at Steve's words. It must be a soul mate thing, because Danny isn't normally like this. Danny tells himself that it's way too soon for him to feel like he's in love with Steve, but his heart, which is doing the strange fluttery thing and racing just a little too fast, vehemently disagrees.

Once Steve has left, Danny automatically starts to push down his shirt sleeve like he normally would to cover his mark. But when his fingers reach the edge of the fabric, they pause.

Danny used to dislike his soul mark, but right now he's feeling pretty damn proud of the thing. He thought it was girly and ridiculous, but after the story Steve shared, it feels meaningful and important. Danny doesn't want to cover it up.

He leaves that sleeve alone and pushes up the other sleeve on his shirt instead, and then he gets back to work.


End file.
